History of League Trophies
Our league has twelve trophies, most of which we contest each year, that were presented in memory of chess stalwarts who have mostly passed away. Regrettably, today most of us never met them and do not know who they were or why their names are attached to a trophy. This article is an attempt to enlighten members. There is no name or trophy attached to the Lightning Tournament which was first played in 1938.
Dr Hanson - Division One Trophy
Dr Hanson Trophy
Alfred Hanson 1862-1940
The West Wales Chess League was founded in 1932 and Dr Hanson was appointed President, a position he held until his death. The year after its foundation, Dr. Hanson presented a trophy for competition.
Dr. Alfred Hanson arrived in Swansea from Lincolnshire, though he was born in Levant, Cornwall. He worked as medical officer to the Swansea Port Health Authority, agent for the Admiralty and medical officer for Swansea Training College. He retired in 1939 and died just a year later.
Stan Cole - Division Two Trophy
De La Beche Winners 2019
Stan Cole 1884-1968
A second Division of the League was first started in 1963-4. It was called 'Division B' and was won by Swansea Pawns. The following year Stan Cole presented a trophy. In 1970-1 the first and second divisions were amalgamated with the top three teams playing for the Dr. Hanson trophy. This did not last and since that time there have always been at least two separate Divisions for the league.
It was Stanley Cole who first proposed the formation of a new league in 1932, to be called "The Swansea Chess League." It soon renamed the West Wales Chess League. Stan served the league as Chairman (1933-6), Secretary (1932-2) and Treasurer. He was made a Vice-President in 1936 and was President from 1946 to 1967. One of the complaints he had to deal with in 1934-5 was that there were too many matches (14) and subsequently the league was reduced to single round and just six matches for each team!
Elsewhere he was Treasurer of the South Wales Chess Association from 1928 to 1951 and was a Vice-President of that organisation.
Stan Cole was a teacher at Waun Wen school. His only club was Swansea and he acted as their secretary 1923-1935 and Vice-President 1936-48. His house was destroyed in the Blitz. As a result, he took rooms in the Y.M.C.A. building – where the chess club met - and he died in 1967. Though for a long time one of the Club's leading players, he rarely took an active part in playing the game after the war. However, he worked hard to develop chess in the West Wales league and in local schools. He would play anyone but is reputed never to have scored a game and if his opponent did so then he would take the score sheet from him and rip it up! A dinner was held on his 80th birthday, at the Dolphin Hotel, in February 1964, which was well attended and reflected the high esteem in which he was held.
Tom Hughes - Division Three Trophy
Tom Hughes Trophy
T C Hughes 1895-1968
Division Three was created for the 1966-7 season with four players per team. By this time there were 10 clubs in the league totalling 19 teams. There was no Division Three for the 1969-70 season but it continued thereafter until the covid break in 2019-20 season. with no competition 1993 (when the Minor League was introduced) , 2000-2004, 2009-2010, or 2014-2015. The Tom Hughes Trophy was first awarded in 1974 to D.O.E. B team (Department of the Environment). It has not been awarded since 2019.
Co-founder of the West Wales League, Thomas Charles Hughes had a remarkable record as a chess organiser. He was the Swansea club’s main administrator from 1933 onwards, but he also served chess with distinction elsewhere. He was secretary of the South Wales Chess Association between 1935 and 1954 and secretary of the West Wales Chess League between 1933 and 1966. He also served as treasurer for West Wales for 26 years and President for the last year of his life. He was one of the few people who were made Life Vice-Presidents of the Welsh Chess Union before its separation from the British Chess Federation in 1970 and it was he who formally proposed the formation of a Welsh Chess Union in 1954, stating at the time that he was one of only two obviously Welsh men present.
Dave Deuell - Division Four Trophy
By 1975-6 there were 30 teams from 18 clubs competing in the league and it was decided to form a fourth division to commence in the 1976-7 season. That year it was won by Haverfordwest B; and it was last played for in 1985-6 when the winners were Neath B
David Janvrin Deuel was an American but in 1929 he was married in Swansea. He returned to New York but in 1947 the couple returned to Wales on board the Queen Mary and Wales was where they spent the rest of their lives. Deuell worked in banking. He must have had some previous links to the chess world as within a couple of months of returning to Wales he had joined the Llanelli club, but that club disbanded shortly afterwards.
He re-emerged about thirty years later, joining the new White Knights chess club (founded 1973).
He died in 1977 at the age of 74.
Harry Powell - Division Five Trophy
The West Wales League reached its zenith in 1978 when a fifth division was established. It was won by Pennard E. The Division lasted only five years and the trophy was last presented in 1983 when the winers were Llanelli Spartans.
Harry R. Powell (1931-2005) taught himself to play chess from a book whilst confined to hospital for a considerable period in his youth. He made a brief appearance for Swansea in the 1961-2 season but did not play again until the entry of the newly formed Fords Chess Club in 1972, when he was their top board and secretary. He served as Secretary of the League from 1973 to 1978. He was made league Vic-President in 1977. He also sat as Chair of the WCU Junior Panel for a few years.
K.J. James - Minor League – Division One Trophy
K J James Trophy
Kenneth John James 1939-
The Minor League was first tried as an experiment in the second half of the 1971-2 season with matches over four boards only. It re-started 1988-9 as a competition for juniors only when it was won by Bishop Vaughan Acolytes. With only a few clubs entering teams, it was always a struggle to get enough for a true competition. The Junior League ceased at the end of the 1991-2 season but for 1993-4 was replaced with an altered format where there was no age restriction, play was over four boards and there was a grading limit for players; there was also a shorter time control. This competition was not held after 2009-10 but was was revived in 2023 and its name was changed to Championship League for the 2024-5 season.
Ken James spent a year in hospital in 1962 and that was where he learnt to play chess. He joined the South Wales Police as a civilian and started a chess club for them in Swansea in 1970. He found great satisfaction passing on his skills to children and, after the Police team folded, this led him to joining Upper Killay club where there was a flourishing junior section.
Ken acted as West Wales League secretary from 1993 to 1999 and during that time he ran three of the seven Divisions. He was made a Vice-President of the League.
Phil Vasil - Minor League – Division Two Trophy
Phil Vasil Trophy
This trophy was competed for only between 1997 and 2000. The first winners were Bishop Vaughan Squires and the last holders Castell Nedd Senators.
Phil Vasil joined the Neath chess club as a teenager in 1964 and quickly rose to top board. One of life’s characters, you would hear his laugh well before you saw him.
When he returned to the club from university, he had a little job behind the bar at the Busmen’s’ Club. He would start his game, rush downstairs, serve a few pints and dash back to the match. It did not seem to affect the result! He would travel home after work in Swindon to play in matches.
He was a regular competitor on the congress circuit and played many time with much success in the Welsh Championships.
Phil was league secretary from 1987 to 1990 and WCU Junior Secretary 1969-70. He was only 50 years old when he died in 1997.
E J Clarke - Individual Championship Trophy
E J Clarke Trophy
The League Individual Championship was first played 1936. In 1960 Edward James Clarke, a member of the Swansea club, presented a trophy and three replicas for competition. The league decided to use the trophy for the individual championship. That first year it was won by the 1958 Welsh Champion, Brian Douthwaite and the later winners and retainers of the replica trophies were Michael Baker and Arthur Jones.
E. J. Clarke was a long-time member of Swansea chess club though he never played much competitive chess. His father was the founder of a firm of tinplate agents D. Pascoe, Clarke & Co. and they later became shipping agents. Clarke, known as Eddie, was a partner in the firm.
He was made a Vice-President of the league in 1961 and died in 1979 at the age of 79.
A O Jones - Rapidplay Trophy
A O Jones Trophy
Arthur Owen Jones - 1913-1971
The annual Rapidplay Tournament (30 minutes each) is a very popular event in the league calendar.
Arthur Jones dominated the West Wales chess scene from the 1930s onwards. Before the war he won the West Wales Individual Championship three times. He played for Gorseinon and led them to a shock victory in the Welsh Challenge Cup final of 1950 when they combined with Cwmamman club to defeat mighty Cardiff. He later led Swansea to similar success in 1960 and 1962. In all he played in six Challenge Cup finals.
He won the South Wales Championship of 1949 but the highlight of his career was winning the Welsh title in 1962 (shared). At the end of that year, he defeated World Championship contender Paul Keres in a simultaneous display in Cardiff. At the Swansea club he was champion six times between 1954 and 1961.
Above all however, he was a great friend to all chess players. Always ready with practical advice in over-the-board games. Arthur was ready to play chess with anybody and often conducted his own small simultaneous displays with younger and less gifted players. He also visited other clubs in the league in an individual capacity to play and encourage them.
He also did his bit as an administrator. He adjudicated any games left undecided in the league and acted for a while as league match secretary. The league made him Vice-President in 1967.
The trophy was presented for competition by his widow and was first awarded to Paul Botto in 1976. It was ‘lost’ between 2000 and 2015 when it was rediscovered at a by then defunct chess club.
Stan Fortt Knockout Trophy
Stan Fortt Knockout Trophy
The Knock-out competition had been played since 1973 and was originally known as the Pergammon Press K. O. Cup. The Stan Fortt Trophy was first won by Swansea in 1989.
A native of Porth in the Rhondda, Stan served for six years in the Royal Air Force including throughout war, attaining the rank of Flight-Lieutenant (navigator). He was a Japanese prisoner of war having been shot down when serving in Burma. After the war he joined the Glamorgan Constabulary and remained stationed in the Neath area until his retirement as a Sergeant in 1976.
For many years Stan was Neath chess club. He acted as secretary and treasurer and was a stalwart of the club’s first team. Stan died in 1988 aged 65, after playing in a league match.
Richard E Jones Major Knockout Trophy
Richard E Jones Major Knockout Trophy
Richard Edward Jones 1947-2011
This trophy was first awarded in 1998 when the winners were Swansea Valley Botvinnik.
Richard Edward Jones was born in Nairobi, the son of a Polish refugee and a Kenyan Asian. He came to Britain in 1953 and later studied English at Swansea University. His teaching career centred on Swansea and ended at Birchgrove Comprehensive School.
Rej, as he was known, joined the Swansea chess club, and then played for Bishop Vaughan before establishing the Swansea Valley club based at Pontardawe which he ran between 1994 and 2010. When that club folded, he joined Morriston chess club.
Rej served the West Wales League as controller of Division One and organiser of the E. J. Clarke tournament, but his main involvement was as Publicity Officer and Grading Officer from 1991 to 2008. He occupied similar positions with the Welsh Chess Union. Locally, he ran a weekly chess column in the Evening Post. Rej became Chairman of the West Glamorgan Schools League in 1980 and he was also a qualified arbiter. His son, Richard, became an International Master and now lives in Australia.
For the last two years of his life, Rej was President of the Welsh Chess Union.
A D Nicholson Shield - Minor Knockout Trophy
A D Nicholson Shield
The rating for the Minor Cup is decided by the League Executive but is usually below 1400 or 1500. A Minor Cup competition was held for two years between 1989 and 1991 but the Shield was first presented in 1996 when it was won by Treetops C also known as Morriston C.
The shield was donated by Aubrey Dommett Nicholson (1911-2004) who was a very able administrator with the Swansea club, West Wales League, and Welsh Chess Union. He was rarely ruffled by anything but in 1970 he stood down on principle, after five years as WCU secretary, as he strongly opposed the WCU parting from the British Chess Federation.
In West Wales he served as treasurer 1977-1984, Secretary 1981-1988 and President 1988-1991. He also ran the E. J. Clarke tournament for many years.
Researched and Written by Martyn Griffiths